Health Insurance Plans Extend
Efforts to End Tobacco Use -
Evidence-Based Guidelines Result in More Coverage
Washington,
D.C. --
Nearly
three-quarters of all health insurance plans included in a
new survey rely on evidence-based clinical guidelines to address
tobacco use, and almost all plans, 98 percent, provide full
coverage for at least one type of smoking cessation intervention.
Those
are among the results of a new study released today by America's
Health Insurance Plans, and published in the journal Preventing
Chronic Disease.
"These
results show that health insurance plans have clearly expanded
their leadership role in fighting the adverse health effects
of tobacco use," said Karen Ignagni, AHIP president and
CEO.
The
study shows significant increases between 1997 and 2002 in
the percentage of plans with strategies to address relapse
after childbirth, as well as smoking cessation during treatment
for chronic illness and following a heart attack. Approximately
47 percent of plans in the latest survey reported having a
specific strategy to address smoking cessation during postpartum
visits and following a heart attack, and 52 percent of plans
reported having a specific strategy to address smoking cessation
during treatment for chronic illness, more than double the
rates from five years earlier.
According
to Ignagni, the health consequences of smoking have made prevention
and treatment of tobacco use a priority among health insurance
plans.
"As
medical professionals learn more about what works to help
people quit smoking, health plans are increasingly incorporating
this knowledge into their coverage decisions," Ignagni
said.
Key
findings of the study:
Most
of the nation's health plans (71 percent) in 2002 reported
having written clinical guidelines for smoking cessation.
In 2002, 72 percent of the plans in the survey used one or
more tools to help identify plan members who smoke, up from
15 percent in 1997, and 27 percent in 2000. Most plans used
a combination of health risk appraisals, member surveys and
medical record reviews to identify candidates for smoking
cessation; only 6 percent used enrollment information.
Approximately 89 percent of plans in 2002 reported providing
full coverage for at least one type of pharmacotherapy used
for smoking cessation, more than triple the number reporting
similar coverage in 1997.
Approximately
52 percent of plans reported providing full coverage in 2002
for telephone counseling for smoking cessation, and 41 percent
provided full coverage for face-to-face counseling.
The
recently released survey builds on a series of studies conducted
by the association over the last six years. These studies
offer a comprehensive assessment of tobacco control practices
of health plans at a national level.
The
152 health plans that completed the 2002 survey represented
more than 43.5 million members nationwide.
The
survey was conducted by AHIP's national technical assistance
office as part of the Addressing Tobacco in Managed Care program,
and was supported through an unrestricted educational grant
from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
AHIP's
long-term tobacco control program advances the integration
of the tobacco cessation and prevention programs into routine
health care by increasing the number and quality of tobacco
control initiatives.
Preventing
Chronic Disease is a peer-reviewed journal published by Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. The article appears in
the October 2004 issue of the journal, and can be accessed
online at:
www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2004/oct/04_0021.htm.
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Contacts for Journalists
Larry Akey
AHIP
(202) 778-8493
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